The Crucible- What Does Arthur Miller Suggest Are the Dangers Inherent in a Dualistic Universe

Arthur Miller suggests several different dangers inherent in a dualistic view of the universe in his play, The Crucible. He firstly presents those that strongly follow Evangelical Christianity, and cannot admit their mistakes, but only blame others for their problems. In comparison, he then illustrates to the reader those that have a more realistic view of Christianity, realizing their sins, and standing up for what they believe is moral. By dividing the two conflicting aspects of the world, Miller demonstrates the many potential dangers in the village, which in the final stages come together to create one of the deadliest clashes for an untainted religion. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, Miller presents one of The Crucible’s complications, the dualistic ideology, as a conflicting problem amongst the people. The Puritan town, always remaining in the light of God, are very religious, attending church every day, reading only from the bible, and forbidding anything resembling a theatre or ‘vain enjoyment’. It may seem that there is nothing harmful about a religious community, though within Salem people are constantly judging one another on how religiously pure they are, which causes the initial tensions. So when some teenage girls get up to mischief, and bring the devil’s presence into the situation, people begin accusing each other of who they believe are not as pure as them. They even begin to accuse those they wish to get revenge upon, of siding with Satan, creating potential dangers in the town. Before long, Miller has divided Salem into two dualistic views: those who, as good Christians should, are more realistic about the presence of the devil in their community, and those who have been misled into believing Satan is ‘loose in Salem’, and who accuse their enemies of siding with the devil. Miller suggests that those who have a black and white view of the universe are the accusers in Salem, and are the cause for many of the dangers evident in this town....

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...Arthur Miller's play The Crucible is a social commentary on witch hunts in early America, as well as an Aristotelian tragedy. In Aristotle's essay Poetics, Aristotle explains that a character flaw (imperfection or weakness in one's personality or values) or an error in judgment can lead to tragedy. The word for this is hamartia. Aristotle also goes on to state that the tragic hero will find enlightenment through his or her lamentable situation. In Miller's play there are two characters in particular, John and Elizabeth Proctor, who are tragic figures that find psychological insight, stunning facts of self-sacrifice and heroism through their personal tragedies.
Elizabeth Proctor, who is the wife of John Proctor, and the enemy of Abigail Williams, appears to be a loving, caring and sturdy housewife on the outside. Truthfully, Elizabeth is a cold, insecure, and vengeful woman with trust issues in her marriage. "Spare me! You forget nothin' and forgive nothin'. Learn charity, women." (52) At first we assume that Elizabeth is only cold in her marriage because of John’s infidelity with Abigail, but we learn that her bitterness comes from a lack of self-worth and pride in herself. "I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery" (131). This insecure and cold spirit led to Johns affair with the house worker who was undoubtedly more confident and had a sexual appetite and appeal that intrigued John. The problem was not just the...

...How doesArthurMiller create drama and tension in Act 1 of ‘The Crucible’?
The Crucible is a play, which explores the witch- hunting hysteria that happened in Salem 1692. Miller uses this “organized mass-hysteria”[1] to comment on his own similar experience during the 1950s. Through “The Crucible”, Miller is able to draw an analogy between the hysteria of the Salem witch-trails and its modern parallel of the anti communist ‘witch-hunts’ which occurred due to the HUAC-House of un-American Committee, which were lead by Senator Joseph McCarthy; who with the help of the committee were “ruthlessly determined to hunt out communists as the Salem judges had been to hunt out witches”[2]. Miller used “The Crucible” to criticise this unmitigated evil, which led to so many innocent people being wrongly charged.
The play follows how fear of death, The Devil and the unknown causes people to submit to madness and how the sense of guilt which “generally it was a guilt resulting from their awareness that they were not as Rightist as people were supposed to be” [3] could cause them to lose all forms of their common sense and allow for insanity to overcome a whole community.
The abrupt opening of the play, with Betty Parris laid “inertly on a bed” and Reverend Parris knelt weeping and praying, instantly creates tension and suspense for the...

...﻿Ben O'Connor
Mr. Richards
English 10
January 11th, 2009
-Crucible Essay-
The Crucible written by ArthurMiller was a story in which takes place in a town called Salem, Massachusets. This story was directed towards the topic of the witch trials of 1692 and how the people were effected by the deaths and horrific torture treatments. The Crucible portrayed the perfect description of how the time of witch trials were so curropt and unfair. In this time if someone were to blame another person of something then the person blamed would immediatly be guilty and thrown in Jail or hung. Is Salem many people tried accusing people of different crimes so that they could gain power aswell as land. Thomas Putnam was greedy for land because more land meant more power. Thomas Putnam had giles killed because he wanted his land, so he simply acused him of something which would result in his death from "pressing". Also in the text a woman named Abigail Williams loves a man named John Proctor however John is married, so Abigail accuses Johns wife Elizabeth of being in the precense of the devil. This in the mind of Abigail this will bring her and John closer togather however it only makes things worse. As many will see this time in Salem was a very terrible time and from 1692 to 2010 we have come a long way in our nation wide governmental system.
In this time period there were many people accusing others of...

...The Crucible
In the past, present, and undoubtedly in the future, deceptive individuals take advantage of the anxieties and fears of society. When a society's insecurities are exposed and raw, a disconcerted mood spreads throughout the people. This contagion can engulf an entire population and become like a living entity, causing people to act rashly and hypocritically. Whether or not the fear is justified, a convincing individual can exploit a certain mentality called mob psychology. Mob psychology involves manipulating the hysteria of a crowd to fulfill one's desires. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Abigail Williams and other characters spread a fear of witches in the Puritan town of Salem. The fear that they spread ends up permeating their community and dominating the lives of everyone in the town. The psychological phenomenon known as mass hysteria has an important effect on the events in The Crucible.
The Crucible contains many important events that precede the madness that ensues by the end of the play. Abigail Williams, for instance, has a love affair with John Proctor, and wants Proctor to leave his wife Elizabeth for her. Another character with a hidden agenda is Mr. Thomas Putnam, who hopes to take over some of his neighbor's land. To amplify the situation, a group of girls are questioned by ministers for performing witch-like rituals in the forest. A Puritan belief of the 17th century is...

...
Symbolism and Themes in The Crucible
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, The Salem Witch Trials of 1690 brings the town of Salem to a state of hysteria, a state of total confusion. Miller’s use of hysteria allows the build up of his many themes. The Crucible contains three major themes: light versus dark, weight, and name.
The theme of light versus dark foretells the upcoming events. Darkness in The Crucible brings a presence of evil to the play. Miller uses darkness to convey evil. The first use of darkness Abigail and the girls dance in the dark woods. The darkness from the woods reveals the ominous events. The idea of darkness is present throughout the play to set up the coming of a sinister act. Darkness presents itself in The Crucible to expose the evil through Abigail or through an evil spirit. In the play, darkness is also used to describe evil spirits. Mercy Lewis asks Mary if she “. . . send[s] this shadow on [her]” (Miller 101). In this quote darkness is used as the presence of a demon. Hale talks about the “. . . powers of the dark gathered in monstrous attack upon the village” (Miller 61). Once again the theme of darkness introduces itself to foretell an evil event preparing to take place. Darkness portrays evil in contrast to the truth and purity light portrays.
Light signifies the truth and purity through God. Hale tells Tituba to...

...ArthurMiller&#8217;s play The Crucible develops characters that portray problems with their identities. This inner struggle is clearly seen in the main character John Proctor. He is the man Miller has chosen to struggle with &#8220;the dilemma of men, fallible, subject to pride, but forced to choose between the &#8220;negative good&#8221; of truth and morality, and the &#8220;positive good&#8221; of human life.&#8221; (Internet, ArthurMiller Home Page) In order for this character to develop, Miller had to create Proctors wife, Elizabeth. She would be the catalyst in making John Proctor deal with his inherent identity dilemma. With out her, Proctor would not be a central character, and would have never needed to deal with the inner morality of himself. Elizabeth Proctor makes her husband John the main character in The Crucible.
In the character introduction we are told &#8220;He (John Proctor)was powerful of body, even tempered, and not easily led. The steady manner he displays does not spring from an untroubled soul. He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct. Proctor, has come to regard himself as a fraud.&#8221; (2036) It is known in the play that John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, the accuser. Elizabeth knew all along that this was the case, and...

...The Crucible- Act Four
Plot :
The final act opens that fall in the Salem jail. Several hangings are scheduled for that morning, including of John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse.
Danforth, Hathorne, and Cheever arrive and ask why Reverend Hale has been allowed in the prison. They discover that Parris has allowed it and so they send for him. They discuss how Parris has seemed rather unstable lately. When he enters, they discover that Hale has been trying to convince Rebecca Nurse to save herself by confessing. They ask Parris why he has been troubled and it is revealed that Abigail has vanished with Mercy Lewis having taken every cent he had. Parris attempts to convince the men to stop the hangings, realizing that it has all been taken too far. He feels that the townspeople no longer support it. The men refuse however, to even postpone the hangings as it will bring the executions that have already taken place, and therefore themselves, into question.
They then speak to Elizabeth Proctor, now three months pregnant, to try to convince her to compel her husband into confessing and saving himself. She promises nothing but asks to speak to him anyway. When they are left alone, they discuss their baby and recent events. He has been tortured and has not heard anything. She tells him that Giles Corey was crushed (by stones) to death. He had refused to enter a plea in order to prevent his land from being forfeited.
Elizabeth tries to take the blame for Proctor's...

...In The Crucible there is a lot of tension that builds gradually throughout the play. Tension is a very important factor in The Crucible and ArthurMiller uses a lot of different techniques to create and illustrate it. The tension repeatedly rises, and then falls. This could be displayed in a graph.
The graph would start with small peaks, and as the tension escalates the peaks would gradually become higher. Note every peak would be higher than the previous to show a gradual build of tension throughout the whole play.
I am going to focus mainly on the end of act one, and the start of act two. I will explore the two scenes in great detail, and compare how the tension is similar and how it is different.
The first thing that is striking to the audience is the setting of an act or scene. Straight away the audience is intrigued by this play. The end of act one takes place in Betty Paris very small and intimate bedroom. There is only a little bit of light in this scene, which comes from a small window and a single candle that burns on a table. There are 12 people, if not more, cramped in to this claustrophobic space. This makes the scene seem even more tense. Also the secret private conversations intrigue the audience and raise their involvement.
The second thing that makes the audience feel on edge, is when Hale and Paris start interrogating Abigail. They continuously fire non stop questions at her, barely even giving...